He might be seventh in the general classification, 4’21” off leader Odd Christian Eiking, but Bradley Wiggins insists Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) should not be written off at La Vuelta just yet.
The Colombian has failed to reproduce his exploits from the Giro d’Italia, where he swept to a maiden pink jersey to banish concerns he was a spent force after a year battling back trouble.
It has been a much trickier task in Spain for the 24-year-old, with rival Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) poised for a third consecutive title should Eiking – as expected – drop back in the final week. The Slovenian is 1’36” behind the leader in third, with Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) sandwiched between them at 54”.
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“When he did that and then didn’t go to the Tour de France, it looked like he was going to come back and make the same statement at the Vuelta. It’s not looking like that at the moment but there’s some tough days to come still.
You can’t underestimate someone like Bernal until the job is done because he could produce something like he did at the Giro or produce something like [Chris] Froome did at the Giro a few years ago.
Froome produced arguably the greatest comeback in cycling history at the 2018 Giro after a memorable 80km attack in the mountains on Stage 19 saw him seize the maglia rosa, having struggled up to that point.
Ineos have had a quiet race but Adam Yates’ late burst on Sunday hinted they could yet force their way onto the podium, with the Brit now 4’34” down on Eiking.
“I wonder what Yates will be satisfied with,” added Dan Lloyd. “Now he’s at Ineos, we make this assumption that the wins are all they’re interested in.
“For Yates, he had a fourth at the Tour when he was a very young rider and he’s never finished on the podium at a Grand Tour. It’s not like his brother Simon who has won this race.
“He might be thinking, ‘I’d love to be on the podium at this race – second or third, I’ll be happy with that’.”
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‘Eiking there on merit’
The standout rider from the opening fortnight is Norwegian Eiking (Intermarche – Wanty – Gobert Materiaux), who moved into red after profiting from a 31-man breakaway on Stage 10.
If he survives that test, he must still navigate an ominous third week before the race-concluding individual time trial – a finale which should favour recent Olympic TT champion Roglic.
However, Wiggins believes that Eiking is in pole position “on merit” and could yet hold onto a podium spot.
“This lad in the red jersey is not there because they’re letting him be there,” he said.
I suppose we emphasise it about them [his rivals] gifting him the jersey and deciding when they take it back. But he’s there for a reason.
“This guy could finish on the podium and that’s only if they dislodge him.
“We saw Primoz crash last week and we’ve seen him crash out of a lot of races over the last couple of years. It’s the only time he’s fallible really in these races so it’s not over.
“And they [Intermarche] rode like a team that was two weeks into a Grand Tour with a leader that could defend until the end. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen.”
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Source: Euro Sports
